When You Only Speak Latin
by Beautiful Allusion
Summary: Sequel to Ode to a Dying Man, fourth in a series of one-shots. Jack returns to Gibbs house in Tortuga and finds a new addition he wasn't expecting, that seems to know him very well. It seems his moment to do the right thing has come. No slash.


**When You Only Speak Latin**

Jack sashayed his way through the port of Tortuga on the way to Gibbs house, knowing full well how his 'sisters' would consider him drunk out of his mind from not only his swish but his consistent whistling.

As he turned the corner and walked up the steps to the house, he stopped his whistling and listened to the slightly off-key but not unpleasant singing that was coming from the kitchen and walked quietly into the house, bypassing the living room as he saw his older sister Nicole and her husband Daniel arguing quietly, and heading into the kitchen where he stopped dead in the doorway.

Marie hadn't noticed him yet, and she continued to smile and laugh at the young child she was bathing in the kitchen basin. She cooed a little as she lifted up the boy, holding him up and then placing him on a towel on the bench and wrapping another around him before she looked up to see Jack.

The minute her wavy black hair swung around her face to smile at Jack, the small blonde haired boys' cranium moved in the same direction, revealing green eyes that seemed to light up as he saw Jack and yelled a single word in Latin.

Jacks smile didn't waver as he smiled and kneeled down in front of the boy, ruffling his hair and speaking a quick Latin sentence and pulling a clean shirt over the boys head then turning to Marie and letting his frown creep onto his face as he looked at her.

"What did he say?" she asked quietly in a somewhat panicked tone, nodding her head to the boy and smiling a little over Jacks shoulder, "we found him a week ago and nobody knows who he is. He only speaks Latin; he's said that word a lot lately, points to this drawing we found him with."

Jack took the drawing from the table as Marie pointed it out to him and frowned at it, causing his face to crinkle up and Marie to flip the paper over and reveal a long paragraph written in Latin, a language that only Jack was fluent in around those parts, "that's…interesting."

"What does it say Jack?" Marie asked him again as she peered over his shoulder and struck worried little glances at the young boy who was still getting dressed, "Jack, what does it say? And what did he say to you?"

"It says Marie, that this young lad was abandoned because his mother couldn't take care of him," Jack rubbed his face as Marie's mouth dropped open and she covered it with her own hand, striking more worried glances at the little boy, "his name's Samuel, and he's four years old. He speaks a little French as well as Latin."

"But what did he say to you Jack?" Marie was leaning against the counter now, watching Samuel play with a few wooden blocks that the girls had obviously carved, "what did he say to you?"

"He called me dad," Jack said quietly as he smiled at the boy and crouched near him again, listening to him explain his block patterns in Latin and praising him appropriately, "…he called me dad."

"So are you going to correct him?" Marie asked quietly as she watched Jack smile at the boy and mutter in Latin then moved back towards her and motion to the living room, "we can't go in there, Nicole and Daniel are arguing about what to do."

"What do you think we should do?" Jack heard that tone echoing through his voice again, the one he used with Will when he was talking to him about his father and looking back at the kid, he knew why, "what do you think _I_ should do?"

"I think you should do what's best," she smiled up at him a little sadly, looking back at the boy and uncrossing her arms from over her chest, walking towards the kitchen door and smiling a little at Jack as she paused in the doorway, "I think you now what that is. I'm going to go talk to Daniel and Nicole."

Jack reached forward to stop Marie from leaving but she'd already disappeared around the corner, making Jack start as he felt hands tugging on the back of his coat. As he spun around he saw Samuel looking up at him with worried green eyes, speaking quickly in Latin.

"Nothings wrong lad," Jack smiled as he lifted the kid into his arms and translated what he said into Latin, using the technique his real father had used when teaching him Latin in the first place, "nothings wrong. You're going to be staying with your aunt and your grandfather for a while is all."

The boy sniffled and stuck his forehead against the gap between Jacks neck and shoulder and played with a dreadlock from the back of his neck with the little hands that he'd wrapped around there, mumbling in Latin and sniffling again.

"How about you go play with your toys while your dad goes and talks to Marie eh?" Jack translated and put the boy down, crouching in front of him and hugged him, watching him run to the blocks and then stood up to go to the living room, finding his sisters and his brother in law looking at him from the doorway, he addressed Nicole first, "our little sister told me to do the right thing."

"And you did," it surprised him when Nicole smiled and wrapped her arms around her husband and Marie burst into tears and almost tackled him to the ground with the force of which she threw her arms around his neck, "seems she agrees."

"I'll stick around a while and visit more often," Jack said as he smiled down at Marie and she brushed a few tears away, moving back from Jack and smiling through her watery eyes, "you won't mind looking out for him, will you?"

"I'd never have it any other way," she smiled as the boy himself ran up and tugged on Jacks coat again, watching as he lifted the boy onto his hip and spoke to him quickly in Latin then nodded to Marie, causing Samuel to reach out for her, "your son's gorgeous Jack."

"He knows a bit of French remember, a language you're fluent in so you'll manage," Marie beamed at the boy as he hugged her, watching as he played with the black curls around her face, "and hopefully you won't mind me around more often."

"Who wants to tell daddy he's a grandfather," Marie smiled as she handed Samuel back to Jack, and then watched as Nicole and Daniel made their way back to the living room, taking one of Samuel's hands in each of theirs as Jack put him down and he ran to them, "he'll be ecstatic Jack, I'm glad you did the right thing."

**A/N: **the title clearly works with Samuel's predicament, and if you didn't understand all the characters then I suggest you read the other one-shots in this series, beginning with 'Life is Good' and the rest are listed from there. I thought of Jack having a son, but I knew he wouldn't be with Gibbs daughter who he considers a sister and I couldn't picture him with anyone else so this is how it happened. Clearly set before a few of the others in the series, but after most of them. Hope you enjoyed, Ange.


End file.
